Akron Zips Discussion

Instead of starting multiple Zips-related threads, I figured I'd start this one for all discussion concerning Akron. I enjoy discussing basketball, football, and soccer with my fellow Zips, so we can continue that here.

Jim Tressel won’t start his new job at the University of Akron until May 1, but he showed up this week for what he cheerfully called “fact-finding.”

On Thursday, he wanted to get the lay of the land, literally, and toured campus at the side of four enthusiastic student orientation leaders under postcard-blue skies.

“I couldn’t have envisioned this,” he said at one point as he struggled to orient himself to the new campus, which has undergone more than $600 million in improvements over the past decade. “This is unbelievable.”

The former Ohio State football coach already had some familiarity with campus: He earned a master’s degree from UA in 1977 and was an assistant football coach and physical education instructor from 1975 to 1978.

Those were the olden days, Tressel recollected to his tour guides, when dinosaurs seemingly roamed the earth.

UA’s new vice president of strategic engagements shared many stories with his guides.

How he and the other coaches treated prospective players and their parents to a deluxe spread of glazed doughnuts, orange juice and milk.

How he lived at the Buchtel Field House because he couldn’t afford more.

How his father ordered him to go to UA for his graduate degree when he already had an offer from Penn State’s Joe Paterno and really, really wanted to go there.

“He said I’d have more opportunities here, and I did,” Tressel told the students.

He led his tour guides on an impromptu walk off campus to the old field house on Wheeler Street — once home base to the university’s football team. After 35 years, not surprisingly, he couldn’t quite remember which streets to turn on.

But Tressel did remember that they didn’t have much equipment to train with, dumbfounding students used to rock-climbing walls and lazy rivers.

Times were tough in those days, he told them.

“The only excuse you had for missing class was a death in the family,” he said. “Your own.”

At the Student Center, he remembered teaching bowling (he was awful) and at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, swimming (again, awful).

“I was going to be a high school math teacher, but one thing led to another,” he said. “All of a sudden life took a different turn.”

It could happen to them, too, he suggested.

He peppered the students with questions — the hours for the rec center, where they sat at soccer games, if parking is still a problem.

Matt Garvin of Cuyahoga Falls, sophomore Rana Barghouty, originally of Lebanon, and freshmen Markel Croston of Columbus and Mallory Kennedy of Kent had the answers.

Other students seemed to recognize the ex-coach in their midst and smiled broadly at him.

But only one student had the temerity to walk up to Tressel and introduce himself.

Andrew Kurt, a freshman finance major from Toledo, shook his hand, not once but twice. The two shared stories about the guidance counselor at Kurt’s high school.

Tressel was wearing his trademark vest — this one with a UA insignia — and tie with, you guessed it, a UA insignia. During a tour of the UA bookstore, he said he just stocked up on other UA gear — one sweatshirt and two hoodies — and said his wife has ordered gear from there as well.

Former four-star Ohio State recruit Jamel Turner will apparently be suiting up as a Zip this fall. According to his Facebook, the former Youngstown-Ursuline defensive end will attempt to resurrect what was once a promising football career.

Turner made headlines a few years ago when he was shot in two unrelated incidents in a span of two months, the second of which left him in critical condition. Amazingly, in both incidents he was shot multiple times but somehow escaped with his life. However, the second shooting rerouted Turner from his original plan to attend OSU and things have been quiet for him since.

Prior to the shootings, Turner had been declared academically ineligible to finish at Ursuline, and enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy. In his one season there he recorded 66 tackles and two interceptions, finishing his prep career still high on OSU coach Jim Tressel’s radar. Still, the shooting left him weak from his time spent in the hospital and in an attempt to get back into top shape, he enrolled at Butler Community College in Kansas. He didn’t appear to see the playing field for the Grizzlies however, and not much else is known of how and where he spent his time prior to the recent commitment to Akron.

We’ll surely learn more in the coming weeks, but for now it seems like Terry Bowden got yet another top athlete in Turner. And though he may seem like a project and perhaps has a rough past, it must be noted that he was not charged in either incident and was apparently just in the wrong place at the wrong time…twice.

I think Kent State's run is very cool, especially since Tom Hamilton's kid is on the team. Unlike Chardon, I'm going to give them props on it. I'm not sure why he posted it in "Akron Zips Discussion", but whatever.

Football
Basketball
Baseball (might reverse basketball and baseball, but I think basketball has taken over)
Hockey
Soccer

To go off on a somewhat related tangent....Honestly, one could argue on the collegiate level that there's more interest in women's basketball, softball, men's lacrosse, and women's volleyball than men's soccer. Quite frankly, the general US population does't care about soccer, and the top soccer players never go through the american collegiate system. Even the most well-known current player from the US, Landon Donovan, never played a single game in college. In general, the most overall skilled athletes in the US always wind up playing football or basketball, with baseball mixed in. If soccer was as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world, you might see a few guys with the athletic ability of a LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Allen Iverson, Victor Cruz, Calvin Johnson, etc. on the soccer field for the US. Until you start getting those types of athletes playing soccer for the Red, White, and Blue, it'll never be as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world.

Football
Basketball
Baseball (might reverse basketball and baseball, but I think basketball has taken over)
Hockey
Soccer

To go off on a somewhat related tangent....Honestly, one could argue on the collegiate level that there's more interest in women's basketball, softball, men's lacrosse, and women's volleyball than men's soccer. Quite frankly, the general US population does't care about soccer, and the top soccer players never go through the american collegiate system. Even the most well-known current player from the US, Landon Donovan, never played a single game in college. In general, the most overall skilled athletes in the US always wind up playing football or basketball, with baseball mixed in. If soccer was as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world, you might see a few guys with the athletic ability of a LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Allen Iverson, Victor Cruz, Calvin Johnson, etc. on the soccer field for the US. Until you start getting those types of athletes playing soccer for the Red, White, and Blue, it'll never be as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world.

Click to expand...

The college model in general is an outdated model for aspiring professional athletes. Unless I'm totally wrong, we are the only country in the world that actually uses a college as a place to develop professional athletes.

Also, I suggest reading about what Jurgen Klinsmann is trying to do. He very much agrees with you and is trying to recruit the young and poor intercity kids rather than trying to cater to the College system. All that being said, Akron soccer has produced some excellent prospects in American Soccer, like Teal Bunbury and has probably the 2nd best American coach in soccer with Caleb Porter.

Football
Basketball
Baseball (might reverse basketball and baseball, but I think basketball has taken over)
Hockey
Soccer

To go off on a somewhat related tangent....Honestly, one could argue on the collegiate level that there's more interest in women's basketball, softball, men's lacrosse, and women's volleyball than men's soccer. Quite frankly, the general US population does't care about soccer, and the top soccer players never go through the american collegiate system. Even the most well-known current player from the US, Landon Donovan, never played a single game in college. In general, the most overall skilled athletes in the US always wind up playing football or basketball, with baseball mixed in. If soccer was as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world, you might see a few guys with the athletic ability of a LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Allen Iverson, Victor Cruz, Calvin Johnson, etc. on the soccer field for the US. Until you start getting those types of athletes playing soccer for the Red, White, and Blue, it'll never be as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world.

Click to expand...

Freddy Adu was a big deal when he was coming up as a teenager, but has done NOTHING. I believe one of SI's covers had him with the title "America's soccer savior" or something. He could've been that star that changed it, but yet in the US we are still looking..

BTW, For all the Akron fans, Darlington Nagbe is in the new Adidas soccer commercial being played during UEFA and it's cool.

I think those turning this into a "how relevant is soccer" discussion are missing the point - we're poking fun at the irony of Chardon, who basically said Akron soccer winning a National Title didn't mean much because college soccer isn't relevant to most sports fans, coming in the Zips discussion thread to pump up Kent State potentially qualifying for the College World Series, which also isn't relevant to most sports fans. If you discount one, you have to discount the other.

Personally, I'm proud as hell that Akron was a National Champion and think it was a huge deal. I also think it's very cool that Kent State could make it to Omaha, which would also be a big deal.

University of Akron trustees gave a thumbs up on Wednesday to what could become a new round of campus expansion.

The new master guide plan could fuel $400 million in construction, but details of what is to be done when — if at all — have yet to be hammered out.

The guide is a “strategic document that positions the university to make decisions over time,” Greg Janks, principal of the Boston-based Sasaki Associates, told trustees.

In 1999, Sasaki Associates provided the template for more than $600 million in campus improvements that included InfoCision Stadium, the recreation and wellness center and Student Union.

The university rehired Sasaki last year for $600,000 to update the plan, this time concentrating on buildings that went up before the last plan, some of them in need of renovations.

UA President Luis Proenza said on Tuesday that the new Sasaki guide plan could cost an estimated $400 million to implement.

He said UA officials would begin to prioritize the Sasaki recommendations and decide how to fund them. The university may bite off chunks of projects costing $20 million to $40 million a year rather than trying to put all ideas into play at once, he said.

Not to take these steps would be “competitive suicide,” Proenza said, as sister universities, both public and private, are investing in their facilities, and parents and students alike want nice surroundings.

In addition, UA may relocate some programs to foster what it calls “academic synergies.” For instance, the university may bring together programs in nursing, family and consumer sciences, sports sciences and the Student Recreation and Wellness Center while leaving language pathology and audiology downtown.

Ted Curtis, vice president of capital planning and facilities management, said the guide “is another giant step in maintaining our momentum” of enrollment growth.

One Sasaki suggestion of supreme importance to the sports community would be to build a new basketball arena, as many view the existing James A. Rhodes Arena as outdated and inadequate.

Options for arena

Sasaki pinpoints two options. One site is on UA land at the corner of Spicer and Exchange streets, next to InfoCision Stadium. Or UA could partner with the city of Akron to attract funding to build a new arena across from Canal Park where the Akron Aeros play minor-league baseball.

Sasaki does not indicate which of the two sites it prefers, and Curtis has a third idea of his own.

He suggests attaching a new arena with 7,000 seats to the Rhodes Arena and converting the existing space into two practice gyms.

“Having a totally new facility is even more exciting, and whether it’s on Spicer Street or downtown, a new arena is a new arena,” Curtis said. “I could go for any of the three solutions.”

Mile-long corridor

Another key Sasaki suggestion is to create an “Academic Way” down the spine of the campus in what once was Buchtel Avenue.

The wide sidewalk would have trees, seating and possibly a shuttle to move pedestrians one mile from the East Parking Deck through campus to the Polsky Parking Deck downtown.

Special high-intensity lighting and signage would emphasize that this is the main corridor. The rest of campus also would get new signage and lighting. Many major academic buildings already front on what would be the Academic Way.

Sasaki also would:

• Build a glass atrium on the south side of Bierce Library for dining, conversation areas and computers. The addition would add light to the library and face the new Academic Way.

• Level Schrank Hall South, which is in need of multiple repairs, to make way for more green space.

• Convert the Knight Chemical Laboratory and Goodyear Polymer Center into classrooms, offices and dry labs and build a new tower to replace them on the west side of the North Parking Deck.

• Build a medium-sized recital space with about 500 seats and glass walls on what is now a concrete plaza and fountain in front of E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall.

• Rebuild the McDowell Law Center on its current site at Wolf Ledges Parkway and University Avenue.

• Remodel Ayers and Crouse halls with new lighting, air conditioning, windows and more. A third academic building, Zook Hall, already is poised for renovation.

The university is using $16 million of state money to gut Zook and modernize it for the College of Education. Construction will begin in a year and take about a year to complete.